US EPA

2742831 

Journal Article 

Review 

Mode of action of docetaxel - a basis for combination with novel anticancer agents 

Herbst, RS; Khuri, FR 

2003 

Yes 

Cancer Treatment Reviews
ISSN: 0305-7372
EISSN: 1532-1967 

29 

5 

407-415 

English 

12972359 

Different tumors have different aberrations in signaling and growth stimulation pathways that drive cancer growth. An understanding of these processes is key to the development of new anticancer agents and to identifying optimal treatment strategies and patient populations suitable for specific therapies. It is becoming clear that certain chemotherapeutic drugs such as docetaxel are not simply inhibitors of mitosis and may interact with these tumorigenic mechanisms at a number of levels. This review describes docetaxel's mechanism of action, and provides a basis for understanding how its antitumor activity can integrate with that of different novel agents. Against this background, key docetaxel-novel agent combinations that are currently under clinical investigation are reviewed. How these strategies can be targeted towards specific patient populations (e.g., HER-2 overexpressing metastatic breast cancer patients) to provide optimal therapy is highlighted.